War over Bush tax cuts hits morning TV

The battle over extending the Bush tax cuts played out on TV on Monday morning ahead of President Barack Obama’s push to extend the tax cuts only for those making less than $250,000.

“The American people tell us: ‘Just extend it [all the Bush tax cuts],’” Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), a member of the House leadership, said Monday on CNN’s “Starting Point.” “One of the biggest problems we have … is uncertainty about regulation, uncertainty about taxation.”

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At an event later Monday in the Rose Garden, Obama will ask Congress to pass a one-year extension of the Bush tax cuts for those making less than $250,000 a year, according to reports.

Appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs laid out the administration’s case for ending the upper-income cuts.

“There are tax cuts that have never quite honestly worked in creating jobs,” Gibbs said. “They’ve run up our debts and our deficits, and quite frankly millionaires and billionaires aren’t a tax cut away from lots of jobs in this economy. Let’s focus on the middle class, let’s pay down some of our debts and our deficits, and ask those that have done well, regardless of how this economy has been, let’s ask them to pay a little bit more, pay their fair share.”

Gibbs added, “I think we need to give middle-class families the certainty that they need and deserve, that the tax rates they’re paying this year aren’t going to change next year.”

In 2010, congressional Republicans insisted on a total extension of the Bush tax cuts while Obama sought an extension only for those earning less than a quarter-million dollars. Eventually, the tax cuts continued for everyone as part of a compromise that also led to an extension of unemployment benefits.

”House Republicans will pass the tax relief and fundamental reform elements that are critical,” Brady said. ”At the end of the day, I think the president will understand he’s in a bad economic position. He will cave. We will not see the tax increases he’s hoping for.”

Obama’s move also represents a minor break from some Democratic leaders in Congress. In May, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner proposing a cut-off point of $1 million for the tax cut extension. Sen Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y) has also been a vocal advocate of the higher number.

On “Starting Point,” Rep. Marcy Kaptur admitted there were divisions among Democrats.

”We know that we want to protect the middle class,” the Ohio Democrat said. “I think where you put that line, whether it’s million and above, $250,000 and above, that’s to be worked out.”

Both Brady and Blackburn said any tax increase would harm the already-sputtering economy, citing Friday’s report showing underwhelming job growth in June. But Gibbs said upper-income earners could afford a hike.

“We have to continue growing our economy,” he said on NBC’s “Today.” “We need to continue to grow from the middle class out. We need to give them certainty the tax rates they are paying now will be the same next year. For millionaires and billionaires, they don’t need a tax cut. They are not struggling in this economy. They have done well even as the middle class has shrunk.”

Blackburn, a deputy whip in the House GOP, didn’t make it clear how she would vote on legislation extending the cuts only for those making less than $250,000.